Book review: In search of paradise: middle-class living in a Chinese metropolis

China’s eye-catching urbanization process and an emerging real estate market not only transformed the landscape of Chinese cities, but greatly altered the way urban Chinese live and think about their private space, public space and their traditional communities. In Search of Paradise: Middle-class living in a Chinese metropolis by Li Zhang explored the emergence of a rising middle class and their personal experience following housing privatization and profound economic, spatial, cultural and social changes. From an ethnographic approach, the author explored the interplay between house ownership and privatization of space, security, life style, consumption practices, status and the property right protection.